Man Charged With Sex Assault In Hotel

May 01, 1992

A 25-year-old Michigan man was indicted Wednesday by a Du Page County grand jury on charges that he allegedly drugged a fellow college student and then performed a sex act on the unconscious victim in a Naperville hotel room Feb. 1.

Naperville Detective Mike Cross said Jenkins videotaped the assault, and the tape will be used as evidence.

According to Cross, the 21-year-old alleged victim, a student at Grand Valley State University near Grand Rapids, said Jenkins told him he had cancer and asked for a ride to the Mayo Clinic for treatment.

During the trip, the student said, he and Jenkins ate brownies and drank soda, either of which could have been drugged, Cross said.

The 21-year-old reported that after he exited the East-West Tollway at Naperville Road and drove to a hotel near the highway, he passed out.

The victim said he awoke several hours later in a bed at the hotel. He asked why there was a video camera in the room, and Jenkins told him he was making a living will in case he died of cancer.

When the victim returned to school, he told several friends about the incident. They confronted Jenkins Feb. 6, found the videotape and phoned police.

Detective Dale Vredeveld of Ottawa County, Mich., said Jenkins also has been indicted by a grand jury in Michigan on a charge of third-degree criminal sexual conduct involving the same victim last December.

Jenkins was extradited to Illinois, but his $150,000 bond was reduced to $12,500, and he was released from Du Page County Jail after posting 10 percent of the bond.